Software Engineer

What the role involves

• Implement and maintain application features across the stack
• Write automated tests and keep the build green
• Review code and raise the quality bar across the team
• Diagnose and fix production defects with clear root-cause analysis
• Participate in design reviews and technical planning

Core skills

• Programming Fundamentals (level 4/5)
• Data Structures & Algorithms (level 3/5)
• SQL & Database Design (level 3/5)
• RESTful API Architecture (level 3/5)
• Automated Testing (level 3/5)
• Git & Version Control (level 4/5)
• Debugging & Problem Solving (level 4/5)

Preferred skills

• CI/CD Pipelines
• Docker & Containers
• Agile & Scrum Methodologies

Tools

Experience expected

0-2 years of professional engineering experience, or a strong portfolio and degree/project evidence

Projects that prove the role

• A production-quality open-source contribution with a merged pull request
• A full-stack application with automated tests and CI
• An internal automation tool that removes repetitive manual work

Evidence to collect

• A public repository with meaningful commit history
• Test coverage report showing deliberate testing choices
• A write-up of a bug you found and fixed

What the interview covers

• Data structure and algorithm selection for a given problem
• Debugging a failing test and isolating the root cause
• Version control branching strategy and code review practice
• Describing a shipped feature end to end, including what went wrong

How the role progresses

• Graduate Software Engineer
• Software Engineer
• Senior Software Engineer
• Staff Engineer
• Engineering Manager

Certifications that carry weight

• Meta Back-End Developer Certificate
• AWS Certified Cloud Practitioner

Related roles

• fullstack-engineer
• qa-engineer
• site-reliability-engineer

Turn this into a plan

Inside CareerDev4AI, choosing this role generates a roadmap of the skills, projects and milestones that move you towards it.